Tuesday night in Motown, Julius Randle celebrated a personal milestone with 28 candles and 36 points for the Knicks.
Randle’s season-high scoring production on his 28th birthday propelled Tom Thibodeau’s squad to a 140-110 victory over the NBA’s poorest Pistons at Little Caesars Arena and its greatest offensive output of the season.
Jalen Brunson, RJ Barrett, and Quentin Grimes each scored 16 points as the Knicks (10-11) moved closer to the.500 mark after losing their previous two home games.
Isaiah Stewart scored 19 points to lead the Pistons, who were missing No. 1 overall selection in 2021 Cade Cunningham (shin) and rookie guard Jaden Ivey (knee).
Randle, whose previous season best was 34 points on November 16 at Denver, made all six of his 3-point attempts and scored 26 points in the opening period. The Knicks began the game with the worst 3-point percentage in the NBA at 31.5 percent, but they made 16 of 35 tries from long range (45.7 percent).
Tuesday night, Julius Randle scored 36 points as the Knicks defeated the Pistons.
Derrick Rose
Randle equaled his career-high for 3-pointers in a quarter with five on his first eight tries, resulting in 17 points and a 40-32 advantage for the Knicks after one quarter.
The Pistons made 18 of their first 27 field-goal tries to take a one-point lead four minutes into the second quarter, but the Knicks ended the half on a 26-11 run to take a 14-point lead into the locker room.
Randle drove the lane for a left-handed slam early in the third quarter and was called for a technical foul when Stewart pushed him after the play. The Knicks increased their advantage to as much as 30 points in the third quarter, with Randle surpassing his previous season-high of 35 points with less than three minutes remaining.
With the game out of reach, Randle (14-for-24) and the other starters did not play in the fourth quarter, preventing him from matching his birthday career-high of 46 points, set at Sacramento on March 7 of last season.
»Julius Randle scores 36 on his birthday to lead the Knicks to a rare victory over the Pistons«